Fraternity sues college over sex discrimination

Story here. Excerpt:

'Members and alumni of Wesleyan University's Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity have filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the university over its policy that forced them to go coed.

The lawsuit was prompted by the university's recent decision to revoke the fraternity's status as a housing program because, it contends, the fraternity has not taken "any meaningful steps" toward admitting women as residents.

The fraternity maintains that it was moving toward coeducation and has accused the university of discrimination, misrepresentation and deceptive practices.

"I think discrimination is wrong no matter what form it takes," said Wesleyan junior and DKE chapter President Terence Durkin. "They are willing to allow other diverse groups to live with the same sex. They are singling us out as a fraternity on campus."
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In its 21-page complaint, the chapter says it was making progress toward that coeducation goal, coming up with a plan to partner with a sorority on campus, and had filed a preliminary plan in early January. But shortly after that, the suit says, the university demanded that the chapter file a more detailed plan by Feb. 6 regarding the conversion of rooms for women and an agreement between DKE and its sorority partner.

Durkin said that the fraternity was unable to do that because conversations were still in the preliminary stages with the sorority.
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Kathleen Eldergill, the attorney for DKE, said, "You are left with the impression that no matter what [the fraternity] did, the plan was not going to be good enough."
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Scott Karsten, a member of the Wesleyan DKE chapter's alumni group, the Kent Literary Club, which has owned the DKE house since 1888 and filed suit with the students, said he sees Wesleyan's action as part of a movement among "some of the elite schools in the Northeast to eliminate fraternities. … Some select number of schools have moved in that direction, and President Roth has chosen to be among them."'